Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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695. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide an update on the timebound provision; and if she can guarantee that it will be in place and open in Q2. [30694/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Under the Teaching Council Acts 2001-2015 the Teaching Council is the body with the statutory authority and responsibility for the regulation of the teaching profession in Ireland including the registration of teachers in the state.

It is a function of the Council under the Teaching Council Acts (s7(2)) to act as the competent authority for recognition of qualifications obtained by a person who has applied under this Act for registration as a teacher.

The Teaching Council registers teachers under the Teaching Council Act 2001-2015 and in line with the www.teachingcouncil.ie/en/publications/registration/revised-teaching-council-registration-regulations-2016.pdf As set out in the Schedule of the Regulations, the Council registers teachers under five routes of registration: Route 1 - Primary, Route 2 - Post-primary, Route 3 - Further Education, Route 4 - Other and Route 5 - Student Teacher.

Under the Teaching Council Act, the Council makes regulations for the purposes of registration through statutory instrument, including to amend or replace existing regulations. A further Statutory Instrument (SI) is required to establish the proposed creation of this timebound provision that the Deputy is referring to in this query.

The drafting of the legislation is progressing, and the Teaching Council are currently in consultation with the Data Protection Commissioner as required in accordance with Article 36 (4) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Please note the current timeframes publicised are indicative and not definitive in relation to the progression of the drafting of the legislation and other tasks associated with the making of the new Registration Regulations. Given that there is a procedure and specific steps required, it is not possible to give any further detail in relation to the enacting of the legislation and the opening of the timebound provision.